Fiber recovering machine



1951 w. L. HANNOLD ETAL 2,576,783

FIBER RECOVERING MACHINE Original Filed Nov. 8, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor William L Hannold James J. Griffith Mama 1951 w. L. HANNOLD ETAL FIBER RECOVERING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Nov. 8, 1943 Inz/emar William L. HannoM James J. Griffith By Md I 1/ I 1 I Attorneys Nov.27, 1951 WLHANNOLD ETAL 2,576,788

FIBER RECOVERING MACHINE Original Filed Nov. a, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor William L. Hannol d James J.. Griffith Patented Nov. 27, 1951 UNITIED' PAT ENT, QF-FzlCE-i FIBER RECOVERING MACH-{NET William:-L.;.Hanno.ld, p n nd.Jamcs;-J

Griftith Friona lex Original application November-8, -1943 -Serial: N;- 1

509,468:- Divided and this' application May '26,; I 19.47 SeriaLNol: 750540 1a,. meguey, palmaand other rplants whichare foundnin abundance the,southwestern sec-1- tion of the, United States and portions pflvlexico,

The primary object ofrthe present invention is, toprovide an automotive machine of the chemo-1 ter =-described adapted -1for ,;use an .theiieldlandt comprising a motor vehicle chassishavin mountw edithereon annique, combinatior1.'andI arrange-1'. ment 10)? means and mechanisms org-successive- 1y splitting the buttsof: the plants for separating; theuleaves thereof; then,- crushingxtthe, ileaves toloosen the. pulp and bark thereon, 1 then succes sively combing opposite end-Portionsn of;, the.-; leaves for, completely removing- :the barlcand-pulp from the fiber; and theni delivering they-fiber lore, decorticated leaves from-thefmachinerat the rear; of the latter:

Another object of the invention, is to provides fiber recovering machine of the above 'kindwhich: is simple in construction; and: highly; efficient in, operation, and, which may be:,manufactured at. low cost.

Other-objects"and advantages of the present inventioni'will:become apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying-drawings. in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevationalview of, a machine constructed in accordance with,.thepresentw in-, vention.

Figure 2*is an enlarged transverse sectional view,:tak'en substantially on :line 22 of Figure 51.;

Fi ure 3 isga, fragmentary diagrammatic eview inzside';eleyation, .of. theileafxcrushing and icon;- veyingzmeansi Figure 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view in top plan, of the leaf crushing, conveying and scraping means.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view of substantially the complete assembly.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the illustrated embodiment of the present invention comprises an elongated rectangular skeleton frame 5 which is mounted longitudinally of and on the frame of a conventional motor vehicle chassis 6 having front steering and supporting wheels W and rear traction wheels W. A feed table top 1 is mounted on the forward end portion of the o new and nseful im h frame it so as stci-ov lieit e ront ower lant;

as. and the d iv s s a 5 o he,..mct n i chi hessiss, Mounte lon d na ly n fi ler epc ionlofrth tablet p 1 lea-toothed .s rl mi r cylinder, 9 arran e w th n, a i-r u ine I 5,. shownrin Fi ur 2, therb tts vl I of t c,. an s,,

onthe ta le p J re ins t dbythcop ratori the. housingelo so, that e to t ed; c linde will lcutasaidqbut s nd hereby: c ara e e,

leaves of, said plants ou ted. nitheI o ramcnfi t. the ar-1 ml: 5 abletopfor-r eivin thei aves mm t e l rm i enemllcss. con eyo i which deli rs ,e l av s, t a p irip .l ush n q lsm LJQurneH Q transver ly on-theirame Mounted in the rear portion of ,,the frame, ,5, s; as itable decc t c t n ime an m which. ma be of a .well-knownl ty pe, and which includes a frontscrapingunit l 5 which receivcsthe crushed l avesfnom the; olls J 4 and. live s said-leave tosai car scrapingsunitl 5 af er. eaninsl ne end, portion-of the-leaves The units! 5 includes coeacting upper and low: er, endless, conveyor. ,chains. J l. gandj 8 which are mounted longitudinally in ,the, framej l and which are trained rover sprocket ,wheels ,,15L; As, best shown in Figure ,3, the, chain l B ,extends forwar-idly beyond, the chain, l l for. receiving the leaves from. thecrushing, rollse-l 4., The. opposed,

1:- adia ent unsco nt et a s J l nd-J 8 receive and secure, the, butt Wendi portion of the leaves therebetween, V and suitable tighteners 20 are. provided,for these. chains, The unitl5 further: includcsa-pain ofnpper a d cw rl n lc .scrap: ers or combers 2! which trial rel;-transverselyof,

theirame 5 d ex end fromapo nt. adj ce t chains l l. and, 13. Thescrepers ,2 I, maycornprise endless -sprocket chains. which are, trained over pa rs of procket wheels 52 ffixcd-cnrl nsituclinal hattsc 23., and; ubst t ally anne rshapedl Qmb '3"z I1 11 n eh ha nsfind ess scrap rs 2 lar a apt do e c v i n nd not: tion of the leaves therebetween, as said leaves are carried rearwardly by the chains l1 and 18.

The unit It comprises co-acting upper and lower endless belts 3| which are trained over pulleys 32 in the frame 5. The opposed runs of the belts 3| are adapted to receive and grip therebetween the cleaned end portions of the leaves delivered from the unit l5. Suitable tighteners 34 are provided for the belts 3|, and said belts constitute means for conveying the other or uncleaned end portions of the leaves between a pair of upper and lower endless scrapers or combers 36 of the unit IS. The scrapers 36 are substantially similar in construction and operation to the scrapers 2| of the unit l5. Endless conveyors 38 receive and support the end portions of the leaves which have just been cleaned by the scrapers 36, for delivering the fibers straight and even at the rear end of the machine in conjunction with the belts 3|.

The apparatus includes a main drive shaft 39 having suitable driving connections with the cylinder 9, the upper roll l4, a shaft of the lower scraper 2|, a shaft of the upper scraper 36, and a shaft of the lower belt 3| as shown in Figure 5. As is also shown in the latter figure, the rolls I4 are intergeared, and the shaft of the lower roll I4 is operatively connected to a shaft of conveyor I 3. In addition, lower chain i8 is driven from the shaft of lower roll l4, upper chain I! is driven from the shaft of upper roll I4, adjacent shafts of scrapers 2| are intergeared, adjacent shafts of scrapers 36 are intergeared, conveyors 38 are driven from a shaft of belt 3!, and conveyors 30 are respectively driven from shafts of the respective belts 3|. The main drive shaft 39 of the apparatus is releasably connected to the drive shaft of the engine 40 of power plant 8 by means of a power take-off 4| and a clutch 42 which has a standard clutch lever 42'. Thus, the apparatus may be disconnected from the engine 48 when not in operation, for permitting said engine to drive the vehicle from one point to another through the usual transmission 43, with the apparatus idle. When the machine is brought to a standstill, the transmission 43 may be placed in neutral and the clutch 42 may be engaged by actuating the clutch lever 42' to drive the apparatus.

In operation, the plants are suitably delivered to the table top I, and the operator, standing at the side of the table top which is remote from the cylinder 9, grasps the plants and inserts the butt ends ll thereof into the housing In for engagement by the toothed cylinder 9. The cylinder 9 cuts the butt end portions of the plants to separate the leaves thereof, whereupon the operator pushes the leaves onto the conveyor l3, by which they are fed to the crushing rolls M. The rolls [4 deliver the crushed leaves to the unit 15, the chains I1 and i8 receiving and gripping the butt end portions of the leaves therebetween. The chains I! and I8 move the leaves rearwardly between the scrapers 2] so that the combs 23 remove the pulp and bark from the leaves. The leaves are then delivered to the unit 1 6 where the scraping process is repeated on the other end portions of the leaves.

As the specific construction of the decorticating mechanism forms no part of the present invention per se, it is believed unnecessary to more specifically illustrate and describe the same herein, particularly as such mechanism is of a gen- 6 erally old and Well-known type. It will be seen that the machine may be readily driven to the 4 point in the field where the plants are gathered, and that the machine may then be utilized at this point for operating upon the plants to separate and decorticate the leaves thereof, finally delivering the fiber or decorticated leaves from the machine at the rear of the'latter. The removed bark and pulp may be discharged directly onto the ground so that no disposal problem in connection therewith is presented. The clean fiber may be suitably collected and transported from the field in relatively great quantity, thereby doing away with the necessity of transporting the uncleaned leaves to a stationary plant in which the operations are employed and where the problem of disposal of the bark and pulp is presented.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that the construction, operation and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art. Minor changes in details of construction are contemplated, such as fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What we claim is:

In a portable fiber recovering machine, the

combination with a conventional motor vehicle chassis having a drivers seat and including a front power plant provided with a power take-off,

of an elongated rectangular skeleton frame mounted on the frame of said chassis and extending susbtantially from end to end thereof, a horizontal table top mounted on theforward portion of said skeleton frame and extending over the power plant and the drivers seat, a cutting device mounted at one side of said table top for cutting the butts of plants to separate the leaves thereof, a crushing device mounted on the skeleton frame rearwardly of said cutting device, a conveying device mounted on the frame at the rear of said table top to deliver the separated leaves to said crushing device, a decorticatin'g mechanism mounted in the rear portion of said skeleton frame to receive the crushed leaves from the crushing device and decorticate the same, a main drive shaft journaled on and disposed longitudinally of the chassis frame and operatively connected to said devices and said mechanism, and manually operable means for selectively connecting said drive shaftto or disconnecting the same from said power take-off.

WILLIAM L. HANNOLD. JAMES J. GRIFFITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 738,893 Ellis -1 Sept. 15, 1903 1,356,740 Roberts Oct. 26,1920

2,130,353 Lowry Sept. 20, 1938 

